Meade Esposito

Amadeo Henry "Meade" Esposito (1907-3 September 1993) was a Brooklyn Democratic leader and political boss who led the party from 1969 to 1984.

Biography
Amadeo Henry Esposito was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York City in 1907, the son of Italian immigrants. Growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, he anglicized his first name to "Meade", and he became involved in Democratic politics while working at an insurance business. During the Great Depression, he became a beer salesman and bail bondsman, and he encouraged more Italian-Americans to enter politics. He grew up with many Mafia members, and he bailey many of them out as a bail bondsman; he was known to have ties to the Lucchese crime family. In 1969, he became chair of the Kings County Democratic Committee, and politicians traded favors and gifts with him for political influence and positions. Esposito became a political boss, "making" 42 judges in Brooklyn. In 1988, he was sentenced to community service and fined $500,000 for bribery, while his associate, Congressman Mario Biaggi, was expelled from the US Congress. Esposito died in 1993.